Laura Geggel

As an editor for Live Science, Laura Geggel edits and writes pieces on general science, including the environment, archaeology and amazing animals. She has written for The New York Times, Scholastic, Popular Science and Spectrum, a site covering autism research. Laura grew up in Seattle and studied English literature and psychology at Washington University in St. Louis before completing her graduate degree in science writing at NYU. When not writing, you'll find Laura playing Ultimate Frisbee. 

Articles by: Laura Geggel

Researchers initially thought this skull belonged to a bird-like dinosaur. Now, evidence suggests that it's the head of a lizard.

Hummingbird-size dinosaur may actually be a lizard

By Laura Geggel

A teensy "dinosaur" head found in amber might actually belong to an ancient lizard.

Archaeologists explore the vast Chiquihuite Cave in the Chiapas Highlands of northwest Mexico.

First Americans may have arrived to the continent 30,000 years ago

By Laura Geggel

A cave in Mexico has human-made stone tools dating to about 30,000 years ago.

A digital rendering of the fourth-century B.C. Temple of Asklepios at Epidaurus (right). Notice the ramp on the temple's east side.

Ancient Greeks may have built 'disability ramps' on some temples

By Laura Geggel

Ramps built on some ancient Greek temples were likely placed there to aid the disabled, elderly, pregnant and very young.

California Hills seen near the San Andreas Fault in California.

Weird, Z-shaped faults could trigger a large earthquake on California's San Andreas Fault

By Laura Geggel

A big earthquake at Ridgecrest could trigger the Garlock fault, which would in turn trigger the San Andreas.

The red handfish, a cousin of the now-extinct smooth handfish.

RIP, smooth handfish. You were weird, and now you’re extinct.

By Laura Geggel

This extinct fish used its hand-like fins to "walk" on the ocean floor.

Just like its name implies, the newly described "tiny bug slayer" was very small. It could have fit in a modern person's hands.

'Tiny bug slayer' relative of dinosaurs and pterosaurs would have fit in the palm of your hand

By Laura Geggel

This tiny pipsqueak may explain why dinosaurs and pterosaurs sported feathers.

While it's still unclear whether Polynesians visited South America or South Americans visited Polynesia, one thing is certain; Some Polynesians have a genetic signature indicating that their ancestors coupled with Indigenous people from Colombia hundreds of years ago.

Polynesians and Native Americans paired up 800 years ago, DNA reveals

By Laura Geggel

A DNA analysis of 807 Polynesians and Native Americans suggests that their ancestors were bedfellows long ago.

With only a flashlight to light the way, a CINDAQ diver explores the ancient ochre mine. At the end of the last ice age, these caves were dry, but would have been devoid of any natural light.

Ice age mining camp found 'frozen in time' in underwater Mexican cave

By Laura Geggel

Cave divers found a mysterious passageway that led to an ice age ochre mine.

A partial lunar eclipse, as seen from Bahrain on April 25, 2013.

How to watch the 'Independence Day' lunar eclipse

By Laura Geggel

The full moon will pass through part of Earth's shadow, leading to a partial penumbral eclipse.

Beothuk camp.

Genes from 'culturally extinct' Indigenous group discovered in unsuspecting Tennessee man

By Laura Geggel

The last Beothuk died in 1829, but a new analysis finds that this group's unique genes live on.

Sea Lions enjoying the last light of the day during sunset at La Jolla beach near San Diego, California.

No one knows why decapitated sea lions keep turning up in Vancouver Island

By Laura Geggel

It's unknown who or what is killing these sea lions on Canada's Pacific coast.

Oscar Nilsson created this reconstruction by printing a 3D plastic skull based on the man's 8,000-year-old remains.

This Stone Age man's jawless skull was found on a spike. Here's what he looked like.

By Laura Geggel

Wild boar jaws found in this man's Stone Age grave inspired his recreated clothing and haircut.

This recreation shows the likeness of a man from a hunter-gatherer group who lived about 8,000 years ago in what is now Sweden.

Stone Age man, whose skull was found on a spike, gets facial recreation (photos)

By Laura Geggel

Here's how a forensic artist recreated the likeness of a Stone Age man whose skull was found on a spike.

On June 16, 2020, the GOES-East satellite captured this GeoColor imagery of an expansive plume of dust from the Sahara Desert traveling westward across the Atlantic Ocean.

The world's biggest dust bunny is crossing the Atlantic Ocean right now

By Laura Geggel

A "Godzilla dust cloud" from the Sahara Desert that's heading toward the United States this week is the largest and most concentrated dust cloud of its kind in the past 50 years.

This map shows how the giant pits and the Larkhill Causewayed Enclosure circle around Durrington Walls and the smaller Woodhenge.

Biggest prehistoric monument in UK discovered just a stone's throw away from Stonehenge

By Laura Geggel

Radiocarbon dates from buried animal bones and shells helped date the pits to 4,500 years ago.

On Jan. 4, 2011, the Hinode satellite captured these breathtaking images of an annular solar eclipse.

An annular solar eclipse is happening on the summer solstice. (But no, it’s not the end of days.)

By Laura Geggel

An annular eclipse and the summer solstice are both happening this weekend. But don't worry, it's not the end of days.

A mosasaur mother laying an egg, next to another baby that just hatched out of its egg.

Ancient Antarctic sea monster may have laid this football-size egg

By Laura Geggel

Chilean scientists nicknamed the fossil "The Thing" after a 1982 sci-fi movie based in Antarctica.

Adéle Grosse and her husband found a dead giant squid (Architeuthis dux) while walking on Golden Mile Beach in Britannia Bay, South Africa.

Stunningly intact giant squid washes ashore in South Africa

By Laura Geggel

The giant squid's esophagus goes through its brain.

This illustration shows the newly described Cambrian arthropod Xiaocaris luoi, swimming along the ocean floor as they look for their next meal.

Ancient Cambrian shrimp with dozens of dagger legs looked unlike anything alive today

By Laura Geggel

It had a boomerang-like head shield and dozens of legs studded with daggers.

The two-legged crocodile relative, which left the fossil footprints in what is now South Korea, may have looked like this.

Ancient crocodile walked on two legs

By Laura Geggel

This ancient croc's legs were likely as long as a human's.

The skull of the newly described ichthyosaur Cymbospondylus duelferi.

Triassic sea monster was about to birth three little monsters before she died

By Laura Geggel

The ichthyosaur and her unborn babies lived about 246 million years ago.

A cast of a juvenile T. rex nicknamed Cleveland next to the skull of a young adult, known as B-rex, on display at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.

Here's exactly how T. rex grew from a slender tot into a massive carnivore

By Laura Geggel

Humongous T. rexes might not be as old as they seem.

This cane toad would rather not be part of a plague treatment.

Newton's recipe for 'toad vomit lozenges' up for auction

By Laura Geggel

The trick, apparently, was to hang the toad upside down in a chimney for three days.

A 3D image of the Aguada Fénix site, reconstructed from data gathered during an aerial laser survey.

Oldest and largest Maya structure on record discovered in southern Mexico

By Laura Geggel

A previously unknown Maya site in Tabasco, Mexico is the civilization's largest and oldest monumental structure on record.

The nodosaur Borealopelta markmitchelli preferred to munch on a particular type of fern, an analysis of its fossilized stomach contents reveals.

Best-preserved dinosaur stomach ever found reveals 'sleeping dragon's' last meal

By Laura Geggel

Just like a toddler, this dinosaur was a picky eater.